In the last decade, Cellular and PCS phone technology has emerged as the most ubiquitous communication medium around the world. This hand-held technology allows a powerful combination of convenience and mobility, but when combined with the use of a motor vehicle, this technology is often a safety risk for the end user. Today, the use of hand-held Cellular/PCS phones while driving is widely recognized as a major contributor to accidents, higher insurance rates, and fatalities. Even though hands-free phone technology provides the vehicle driver to carry on a conversation without their hands physically on the phone, the driver is still required to interact with the phone for other features, like establishing and terminating calls or using the phone address book.
Most industry Cellular/PCS hand-held phones in use today are often acquired in conjunction with a particular service provider's specific multi-year service plan for free or at a discounted price. In this practice, the service provider subsidizes most or the entire manufacturer cost of the phone up front on behalf of the end user. As the end user pays for the wireless phone contract over time, the service provider recoups this subsidy cost. To ensure the recovery of this phone subsidy cost, the service provider implements a locking code into the programming of the phone to ensure the end user will honor their contract with the wireless service provider. For example: CDMA phones typically name this feature a “master lock subsidy code” or “sublock code,” while Global System for Mobile communications (“GSM”) phones typically refer to this feature as a Subscriber Identity Module (“SIM”) lock or “SP lock” code.
In addition, if a vehicle contains existing equipment that is particular to a certain wireless service provider, network and/or technology, then it becomes difficult to change or switch to different wireless service provider, network and/or technology.